Chowdhury then plotted to kill Mohammed at his place of work in the Broadway, Stratford, and make the incident look like a robbery gone wrong.

Chowdhury, armed himself with an eight-inch bladed knife, entered the cab office and confronted Mohammed before vaulting the counter and savagely attacking him.

Chowdhury then left the scene.

Mohammed never regained consciousness and when a post-mortem examination was carried out it revealed he had been stabbed 20 times during the frenzied attack.

Witnesses at the scene told the police how Chowdhury had been seen lurking in the vicinity of the cab office in the minutes leading up to the attack.

Analysis of CCTV and phone records meant officers were able to place Chowdhury at the crime scene at the time of the attack.

Detective Inspector Euan McKeeve, who led the investigation by the Homicide and Major Crime Command, said:

Gulam Chowdhury carried out a ferocious assault on Mohammed Afzal. The level of violence used was shocking and ensured that Mohammed would not survive the attack.

Whatever Mohammed’s motives were for the actions he took in attempting to maintain his relationship with a woman, he did not deserve to be murdered.

It is thanks to the thorough and meticulous work of my officers who have worked tirelessly since Mohammed’s murder that we have managed to prove Chowdhury planned, and then executed, this vicious assault which ended in the savage murder of a young man.